This year's new "Colour of the Year" looks set to influence home interiors more than ever before..
Every year New York colour specialists Pantone works with international designers and fashion trend spotters to select the colour tones that it thinks will influence fashion in the year, or years, to come... (More...)

It's Chinese New Year, and this year it's the Year of the Sheep! It's prompting lots of people to think about wool again. And there are lots of good things to think about when it comes to wool rugs. (More...)

Lots of talk these days about shades of grey in the home - all prompted by the famous book and the new film of Fifty Shades of Grey. But in rugs, grey is really starting to stand out as a big contemporary colour. (More...)

Light and nature are two big themes in interiors today. We want to live in homes that let in more and more daylight, to live with light around us. And we want to feel that nature is in our homes, that the things that surround us have a natural look, feel and origin. It is thinking like this that is creating such an interest in rugs with a viscose content.

Viscose rugs generally have a silky-smooth, soft pile with a beautiful shift in light and shade across the rug. The best can really lighten your floor as light plays across the rug. Many are viscose blends, such as wool and viscose rugs, with all the warmth of wool enhanced by the lustre of viscose, or viscose rugs given an extra natural softness by being blended with cotton. (More...)

This summer, many people started looking for lighter and brighter fabrics to freshen up the home. For the floor, natural rugs such as jute or sisal items were one of the first options. But these are usually in a single beige, brown or other earth tone, with a stiff, hardy texture. On the other hand, kilims (sometimes spelt kelims) and other flatweave rugs can provide a slim, light floor covering with bags of character and colour.(More... )

Large rugs are more popular than ever, as hard flooring continues its popularity in UK home interiors. Older properties are still being renovated with original or replacement wood boards, and new properties come complete with wood or laminate floors.

But faced with these polished wood or laminate floors, people also want something warmer and softer to walk and sit on. And others also want to protect these perfect, shiny new or revived floors.

And when it comes to size, designers tell us to opt for a larger rug over a smaller rug. Larger rugs can emphasise the space of a large room. Smaller rugs can led to a disjointed, untidy look in a larger room. Even in a smaller room, a rug that is too small can draw attention to the lack of space.
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A large size Fade rug brings together the table and chairs and adds to a sense of space in this dining room.

Are recycled rugs about to make an impact in UK homes in 2015? We are all taking more interest in environmental matters and increasingly want to avoid materials, including old garments and household fabrics, simply ending up in land-fill. In fact, recycled rugs have a venerable history in Britain. In the nineteenth century, old clothes and other fabrics were regularly torn up and "hooked" onto sacking or other backing material to create what we call "rag rugs." These were used as basic floor coverings in ordinary households, while the wealthier sought out the fine woven wool and silk rugs coming out of Asia. (More...)

Denim blue is green… these recycled rugs use material from jeans and other denim materials.

Forget those April showers! Add a splash of colour in your home with a new rug. This article looks at how the use of a single colour, or a very limited range of colours, around a room with a neutral backdrop, can really bring the colour to life...

In the Summer of 2010, the Oval Office received its new rug, in what is now a traditional event in which the new president selects a new design, usually reflecting a relevant theme or mood. Barack Obama went for a predominantly plain beige rug...

One great source of ideas for your home is in fact in Britain’s thriving paint business! We have a number of world leading paint companies in this country, and they spend a great deal of effort researching what colours are likely to appeal for our homes...

Rug making is one of the great ancient crafts. Rugs were certainly in use by early Neolithic times (New Stone Age, starting around 7000BC) using fleece from the growing practice of keeping herds of sheep and goats...

Rugs can be broadly classified into Flat Weave Rugs and Pile Rugs. Flat weave is the earliest known method of carpet-making and is based on a simple weaving of vertical (warp) and horizontal (weft) threads...

Wool is one of the oldest known textile fibres, and is the chief fibre used in hand knotted fine Oriental rugs, as well our hand tufted contemporary rugs. The qualities that ancient societies valued in wool apply just as much today...

New ideas for decorating your home are constantly emerging from the world of interior designers and colour specialists. Here we look at some of the latest designer thinking to help you choose the best rug for your room...

Ever seen a Flash Mob in action ? It's a goup of people who, tipped off by an internet group, gather in a particular location and suddenly break into some activity for a short while, before mysteriously dispersing...

Rugs come with an ancient history. The earliest remains come from pre-historic times, and throughout history they have provided both warmth and comfort, and beautiful art and decoration to add to the quality of people's lives...